China's Panjin Heyun New Material Co. will use UOP's C4 Oleflex process to produce isobutylene, a key ingredient for fuels and synthetic rubber. This is UOP's third C4 Oleflex license in China this year.

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Technology from Honeywell's UOP has been selected
to produce key ingredients for fuels and synthetic rubber in
China, officials announced on Wednesday.

China's Panjin Heyun New Material Co. will use UOP's C4
Oleflex process to produce isobutylene, a key ingredient
for fuels and synthetic rubber. This is UOP's third C4
Oleflex license in China this year.

Panjin Heyun New Material Co. will also use UOP's
Butamer process, which converts normal butane to
isobutane, thereby maximizing the feedstock utilization to the
Oleflex process.

Southeast Asia is the world's largest producer of rubber,
and China is the largest consumer, accounting for 33% of the
world's rubber consumption, according to a 2012 report. China's
economy is expected to grow about 8% this year, further
increasing the country's need for key materials.

"As China's economy grows, and the need for fuels and rubber
rises worldwide, UOP is providing solutions that help producers
maximize their output to support demands locally, while
capturing a high return on investment," said Pete Piotrowski,
senior vice president and general manager of Honeywell's UOP
process technology and equipment
business.

"UOP technology is currently being used
in China to produce about 5 million metric tons annually of key
petrochemicals, and we look forward
to working with Panjin to continue supporting the country's
efforts," he added.

The new unit, which is expected to start up in 2014, will
process approximately 400,000 tpy of isobutane feedstock at its facility in
Liaoning Province, China. UOP will provide the engineering
design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment,
staff training and technical service for the project.

The C4 Oleflex process uses catalytic
dehydrogenation to convert isobutane to isobutylene. Compared
with competing processes, UOP says its Oleflex technology provides the lowest cash
cost of production, the highest return on investment and the
smallest environmental footprint, enabled by
high isobutylene yields, low energy and water consumption, and
use of a fully recyclable platinum alumina-based catalyst
system.

In addition, unique to the Oleflex process, independent
reaction and regeneration systems are in place that allow
continuous use of catalysts for steady-state operations (non
swing-bed), which helps maximize operating flexibility,
on-stream factor and reliability.

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